Best of 2014: The year's most unforgettable moments, nos. 26-100

The good news for cord-cutters: HBO is finally planning to offer an online-only streaming service in 2015! The bad news: You no longer have an excuse for mooching off your dad’s subscription.

27. Viola Davis removes her wig on How to Get Away with Murder

By taking off her metaphorical armor (i.e. her hairpiece and makeup) before confronting her husband with an immortal line (“Why is your penis on a dead girl’s phone?”), Davis’ Professor Annalise Keating showed true vulnerability for the very first time—transforming her from a kickass character into an actual person.

John Oliver’s weekly, lengthy rants became a signature of Last Week Tonight, but none was harsher than his one about the corruption surrounding the organization behind the World Cup, FIFA. What made it most poignant was Oliver, a big soccer fan, dealing with the internal struggle of being disgusted by FIFA, but still really wanting to watch the World Cup.

30. Gwyneth Paltrow and Chris Martin consciously uncouple

The way other people “divorce” was just too ugly for the GOOP creator and her rocker husband. So instead, they introduced the world to a new concept in which you can separate from your spouse but still go on Caribbean vacations together.

31. Emma Stone beats Jimmy Fallon in a lip-syncing battle

The Tonight Show‘s “Lip Sync Battle” is a straightforward duel: A celebrity guest and Jimmy Fallon compete over faux hooks, impassioned impressions, and whoever bows to laughter first. In the case of Emma Stone last April—who performed “Hook” (Blues Traveler) and “All I Do Is Win” (DJ Khaled) flawlessly—Fallon was left in a puddle of giggles, while Stone got bragging rights for starring in the most-watched Tonight Show clip of 2014 (38 million views and counting).

32. A bust goes wrong on True Detective

In a six-minute, adrenaline-pumping sequence that followed an undercover Rust Cohle through a heist in the ’hood gone wrong, director Cary Fukunaga proved that True Detective wasn’t just about its movie stars (and won an Emmy for his efforts).

33. Jimmy Fallon makes his Tonight Show debut

Jimmy Fallon set a new tone with a chorus line of famous celebrities, “old friends” who each paid up on a $100 bet that he’d never host The Tonight Show. Fallon gets special kudos for welcoming back Joan Rivers, who hadn’t been on the show since Johnny Carson banned her in the ’80s.

UN Women Goodwill Ambassador Emma Watson made a powerful statement when she launched the HeForShe campaign, declaring her feminism and sparking debate.

36. Lupita Nyong’o speaks about “black beauty”

Lupita Nyong’o became a burgeoning style icon when she hit the awards circuit for her Oscar-winning role in 12 Years a Slave, but a speech she gave at the Essence Black Women in Hollywood Luncheon—about her insecurity with her own skin color—spoke to how limited our conceptions of beauty can be, and how much Nyong’o is doing to change that.

37. Weird Al’s late-career surge

Weird Al’s perfectly bite-sized, infinitely sharable nuggets of entertainment were made for the Internet, even if he started making them before the Internet was a thing. He proved as much when his week of daily video premieres back in July pwned the Internet harder than any hacker collective could dream.

38. Jax kills his mother on Sons of Anarchy

Even in her final moment, Gemma (Katey Sagal) manipulated her outlaw son (Charlie Hunnam): “I love you, Jackson, from the deepest purest part of my heart. You have to do this. It’s who we are, sweetheart…It’s okay. My baby boy. It’s time. I’m ready.”

39. Marvel shakes up its comics roster

The publisher’s heroes got a bit more diverse as a woman took up Thor’s hammer and Sam Wilson, one of Marvel’s most prominent black heroes, became the new Captain America. Oh, and Iron Man is now a villainous Silicon Valley tycoon.

40. Zoe Barnes dies on House of Cards

In the show’s season 2 premiere, Frank Underwood shocked audiences when he pushed nosy reporter—and sometimes lover—in front of a speeding subway.